Episode 119: The Myth of Progress (with Brad DeLong)
Truly one of the world’s greatest nonsensical charts about how progress has become exponential.
One of the most cherished tropes in science fiction is the idea that technology, science, and civilization are always getting better -- and the future will be wealthier and fancier than the present. Call it the myth of progress. We explore where the myth comes from, and how it influenced scifi authors from HG Wells to NK Jemisin. Plus we’re joined by economist Brad De Long, whose new book Slouching Towards Utopia is all about economic progress in the twentieth century – and why that progress stopped in 2010.
Notes, citations, & etc!
Slouching Towards Utopia, by Brad DeLong
The Kardashev Scale
Ancient Society, by Lewis H. Morgan (origin of the “Morgan scale”)
Westinghouse’s “electronic house” of the future
“The Last Question,” by Isaac Asimov [PDF]
Ray Kurzweil talks about computronium